GreenEyed Monster
by waterbaby134
Summary: A new employee at the CBI takes an instant shine to Jane, but how will Lisbon deal with someone else taking what's hers? JISBON!


**Thought I'd give myself a break from the total angst-fest of my current multi-chapter 'Puppeteer' and indulge in a little fluff. It was a nice change and tons of fun to write.**

**Rating: T for language, sexual references and themes.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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The first day of a new job was always a nerve-wracking experience. It was amazing how the idea of being in a new place with unfamiliar people could turn you back into a scared teenager so fast it made your head spin.

Laura Stern was no stranger to the first day jitters. Her father was in the army and as a result her family had moved around a lot when she'd been younger. She'd lost count of how many schools she'd attended, the last one she'd transferred to only three months before graduation so her date to the prom had been the geek assigned to show her around on her first day.

And he'd only asked her out of sheer desperation when his own date had cancelled on him two weeks prior to the event.

But no matter how many times she'd done it, the first day had never gotten easier. Her hair would never sit right, even though she'd spend hours the night before practising, her palms would sweat, and her clothes were always wrong. And so far, today had been no exception.

All her life, Laura had wanted to be a cop, and after she'd left college she'd spent nine years at the LAPD, five as a uniform, and four with Cyber Crimes, until two weeks ago. She'd played a big part in the takedown and arrest of a major online crime syndicate and the CBI had taken notice.

When they'd offered her a position with their own Cyber Crimes unit, she'd had no hesitation in jumping at it. Ever since she'd joined the force, she had been hoping for a shot at the big leagues and she wasn't about to let the opportunity pass her by.

The past fortnight had literally flown by as she'd sold her apartment, handed in her notice and made her way to Sacramento, ready to start the new chapter of her life.

Shifting her cup of coffee to the other hand, she glanced at her watch. It was almost one-thirty now, the dreaded first day more than half over, and for that she was glad. She hadn't really warmed to many of her new colleagues yet, and she was looking forward to getting back to her place and being by herself. It wasn't that they were unfriendly, they'd all been very welcoming when she'd first arrived, but they'd all been busy tying up loose ends on their last case and so hadn't had much time to chat.

The elevator arrived and she stepped into it, jabbing the button for the fifth floor. The doors were just beginning to close when a hand shot through them and forced them open again.

The hand belonged to a blonde man in an expensive looking suit.

"Going up?" he asked of Laura, who nodded.

"Excellent." He got in and turned to the panel. "Ah I see we're both headed to the fifth floor. We can be travelling companions!"

Laura said nothing, unsure what to make of this man who seemed more than a little odd.

The blonde guy turned towards her again as the elevator began to move. His face fell under the strong beam of the overhead light allowing her to get a better a look at him.

It was lucky she hadn't taken a sip of her coffee or she was sure she would've choked on it. The man was gorgeous. His hair was in soft curls, his eyes an alluring bluish-green. He was the sort of the man who had no business being in law enforcement when he could have easily been a model or actor.

He eyed her curiously as she tried to get herself back under control.

"I don't believe we've met," he said. "Have we?"

Laura shook her head. She was 100% certain they had never come across each other before. She'd have remembered. It wasn't every day you bumped into the modern version of a Greek god.

He held out a hand. "Patrick Jane."

It took a few seconds for her brain to make the connection and she blushed as she grasped his hand a little overzealously.

"Laura," she eventually managed to choke out. "Laura Stern."

He smiled at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Laura."

If someone bottled up that smile and sold it Laura thought, there'd be no more wars in the world. It seemed to light up his whole face, making his eyes dance as though he were about to burst out laughing.

"Nice to meet you too," she said.

"I take it you're new here?" he asked after a moment.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked, ruefully.

"Well for the most part you're doing quite well," he said. "But the faint note of terror in your eyes tipped me off."

She rolled her eyes. "Great."

He chuckled. "Don't feel too bad. I happen to be very observant about such things. It's kind of my specialty."

The elevator stopped, the doors opened and they got out together.

"There you are, Jane!" a voice shouted from across the room. "I hope those twenty minutes of screwing around were worth it, because I swear to God if you don't quit wandering off I'm going to chain you to the floor!"

Laura looked around for the person who had spoken and was surprised to see that no one else had reacted at all. Apparently such outbursts were a regular occurrence.

"Who was that?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "My boss. She's a little touchy sometimes."

"No kidding."

"Nah, most of the time her bark's worse than her bite."

"JANE!" the voice bellowed again. "Do I have to come over and drag you back here myself?"

He chuckled. "Duty calls. Laura, it's a pleasure to have met you. Cyber Crimes has gained a valuable asset."

"How did you know-?"

"Psychic powers," he said, cutting her off, and she raised an eyebrow, impressed in spite of herself.

"And besides," he added. "It's the only unit with an opening." His eyes twinkled cheekily as she blushed with embarrassment at her own stupidity.

"Hopefully we'll have many more elevator rides to look forward to in the future," he said. "But for now I must bid you adieu."

He flashed her another smile and before she had time to say anything, darted away.

* * *

When Laura got back to Cyber Crimes it was to find Mallory, one of her new colleagues, reclining in her desk chair sipping at a steaming mug of soup.

"Hey hon," Mallory greeted her as Laura dropped into her own chair. "How are you holding up?"

It was not in Laura's nature to spill her guts to near-strangers, but she'd been left so exhilarated by the elevator adventure, she had to tell somebody.

"I just met the most amazing guy."

Mallory tilted herself up until her gaze met Laura's. "Well wouldn't you know, I just love a little gossip with my hot beverage. Describe."

Laura glanced up and spotted the familiar blonde head in the kitchenette pouring water from the kettle.

"He's over there," she said, inclining her head. As though he had heard her, he turned around, caught her looking, and waved. Grinning, she waved back.

"Ah," said Mallory, nodding. "Yes. God sure broke the mould when He created Patrick Jane."

"I'll say," agreed Laura.

Mallory sighed. "I wouldn't go there if I were you, hon. He's way more trouble then he's worth, despite that pretty face."

"Really?" asked Laura, feeling her mood drop. "Why?"

"Don't get me wrong, he's got a lot of good points," Mallory said, putting down her cup. "Hot as all hell, smarter than most of the building put together, charming enough to make the most devoted nun hand in her habit, a smile that made Ken here briefly consider batting for the other team." She jerked a thumb towards one of their other colleagues who'd just arrived back from lunch. He scowled at her, and she smirked.

"But he's got more baggage then the carousels at LAX," Mallory finished. She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Did you ever hear of Red John?"

"The serial killer? Yeah, I've heard about him in the news and stuff."

"Well, back before he joined the CBI, Jane was a psychic and he went on this talk show one day and made Red John look like an idiot during the interview. When he got home that night, his wife and daughter were dead."

"Dead?" Laura gasped.

"Murdered," said Mallory. "With Red John's trademark smiley-face on the wall."

"That's terrible!"

"Word is, since it happened he's gone completely round the twist, swears he's going to kill Red John one day. He's got no social conscience; he gets more formal complaints filed against him than any other employee here. He drives Lisbon up the wall."

"Lisbon?"

"Teresa Lisbon. She heads up the Serious Crimes unit he consults for."

"Was that who was screaming at him earlier?"

Mallory chuckled. "Yeah. Don't worry, you'll get to used it soon enough. She's always yelling at him about something; after a while it's just white noise."

"She sounds a little temperamental."

"Are you kidding? Sure, she's a little hot-headed but in my book, the woman's got the patience of a saint. If he were my consultant, I'd have throttled him by now," she said, matter-of-factly.

At that point, the rest of the team came back and work resumed once again. Despite her colleague's warnings, Laura couldn't stop thinking about Patrick, Screwed up he might be, but he was still the nicest guy she'd met in a long time. She wasn't going to be put off at the first hurdle. She resolved to get to know him better.

* * *

Time went on, and Laura and Patrick spent increasing amounts of time with each other, and one night after too many beers at the little pub on the corner, they slept together. After that, things just fell into a routine.

Everything was easy, effortless as their fledgling relationship progressed, and Laura had never been happier in her life. She was doing well at her new job and every day she was falling a little more in love with Patrick Jane.

Things couldn't get any better.

* * *

Teresa Lisbon was annoyed. And with Patrick Jane in the close vicinity, that could hardly be described as a new feeling.

But the curious thing was that this annoyance was not directly aimed at him.

It was aimed at _her_. 'Her' being the irritatingly perky little blonde Jane had apparently befriended in the elevator a few weeks ago, who since then had attached herself to his side whenever possible.

What was her name again? Leanne? Lana?

Oh well, never mind. The name wasn't important. The important part was that this woman (no, girl!) had been steadily getting on Lisbon's nerves with her shrill giggle and incessant hair flipping. Not to mention the way she always looked at Jane like she was seeing the sunlight for the first time.

It was enough to make you sick.

Jane being Jane, did nothing to discourage the attention, smiling and flirting and carrying on to the point where Lisbon had to exercise a great deal of restraint not to slap him in the face.

What she couldn't quite put her finger on was why the situation bothered her so much. It wasn't as though Jane's work ethic had been affected; he was as committed to their cases as ever and he continued to be as pigheaded and disobedient when out in the field as he always had been.

But it was after the work was done, when the case was closed and the paperwork filled out, that the problems arose. She would see them laughing over coffee, or walking across the road to the little café for lunch, or hear her giggling as Jane performed some mind trick or other and every time she tried not to think of the times Jane had done these things with her.

Not that it mattered. It wasn't like she had some kind of exclusive claim on him or anything like that. He was a grown man who could go where and with whom he pleased. She told herself that over and over again, but it did nothing to get rid of the little twinge that occurred whenever she saw them together.

She got up from her chair and peered through her office blinds. Through the gaps, she saw Jane and Little Miss Perky exiting the kitchen. She laughed at something Jane had said, tossing her long hair back.

If anyone had been in the room with Lisbon just then, they would've seen her green eyes flash with anger. Perhaps they would've noticed the way she gritted her teeth very slightly, or the way her fingers suddenly twitched like they were itching to clench themselves into a fist and punch something.

As if they had a mind of their own, her feet carried her out of her office and over to where they were standing.

* * *

"How stupid do you think I am?" Laura asked Patrick. "There's no way you actually played golf with Sonny Battaglia."

"Would I lie to you? Anyway you think that's a good story, did you ever try getting a Shetland pony into an office building without anyone noticing?"

"You did not!"

"Swear on my couch. Ask anyone."

"What in the hell possessed you to do that?"

"Birthday surprise."

"For who?"

"Lisbon."

As he launched into a more detailed account of the incident, Laura found herself tuning out. Over the last couple of days or so, she'd noticed how very often his boss's name would come up in conversation. In fact, he talked about her so much Laura felt as if she knew her already despite the two of them having not been introduced yet. It didn't matter what the discussion, without fail something would jog his memory and it would be Lisbon this and Lisbon that until she either somehow managed to change the subject or the two of them were forced to separate.

Perhaps she was fighting a losing battle here; maybe Patrick was only interested in casual sex rather than a relationship. It wouldn't be the first time she had misunderstood a man's motives after all. But she so didn't want that to be true. He'd been so sweet to her and such a gentleman that she found herself to be quite smitten with him.

If he really was as emotionally unavailable as Mallory had warned her, she'd yet to see any evidence of it. Sure, he hadn't mentioned anything directly about his wife and daughter but that didn't mean anything, right? After all, they'd only known each other a few weeks.

Before she could stop it a thought flashed across her mind. Did he talk to Lisbon about that kind of thing? She pushed the idea away.

"Oh Laura I wish you'd been there to see the look on her face." Patrick was far too engrossed in the retelling of his story to have noticed her inattention. "She opened the door and…Oh, hey Lisbon."

Curiously, Laura turned her head towards the new arrival, and she was surprised at what she found. All the accounts she had received of the senior agent had formed a picture in her head of what she might like look like, but in this case her instincts were way off the mark.

The woman was petite, with dark hair and deep green eyes. A silver crucifix glittered at her neck.

Truth be told, Laura had been expecting someone a little more…formidable. And certainly taller.

"It's about time you two met," said Patrick. "Lisbon this is Laura Stern, and Laura this is Teresa Lisbon, my boss."

Lisbon raised an eyebrow at him. " Boss? Most of the time I feel more like your handler, and not a very good one at that."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a wild mustang that can never be tamed."

Lisbon snorted, but Laura thought she could see the beginnings of a smile playing at her lips.

Laura held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Teresa."

After a moment's hesitation, the other woman gave her a swift handshake. "Call me Lisbon."

It wasn't a request.

Laura hoped she'd imagined the unfriendly flash in Lisbon's eyes and the way she'd gripped her hand a little harder than usual.

An uncomfortable silence fell.

"So, how long have you two been working together?" Laura asked after a time.

"Jane's been consulting for my unit for a few years now," responded Lisbon shortly.

"If by 'consulting' you mean 'providing invaluable insights without which you couldn't possibly hope to solve your cases' my dear, then yes that would be correct."

Laura didn't miss the endearment, nor the affectionate tone of Patrick's voice as he gently teased his boss.

"Go ahead and keep thinking that if it's what gets you through the day, Jane," Lisbon snapped back at him.

"Oh no, no Lisbon. This is what gets me through the day. Nothing gets my blood up like fending off your elegant and well-crafted verbal attacks. Like those times you told me to bite you, they made me feel alive."

"So all I have to do is stop talking to you and you'll drop dead? All my problems will be solved."

"You and I both know you don't mean that. You'd miss my off-the-wall comedic japery, not to mention my good looks."

"Why don't we give it a try and see how it goes? Drop me a line in twenty years or so, I'll bet my life will go on with or without you in it."

"Sure, if you call that living."

Laura followed the conversation with interest, turning her head back and forth as though watching a tennis match. Patrick and Lisbon seemed to have simultaneously forgotten that she was even present, so focused were they on their verbal sparring match.

After a few minutes of this, Laura began to tire of being routinely ignored, and besides she had paperwork to do.

"I should go. Do you want to go for drinks later, Patrick?"

He at least had the decency to tear his eyes from his boss just long enough to answer her.

"Love to, if Lisbon can spare me of course."

"Go right ahead by all means," said Lisbon at once. "Never let it be said that I turned down a chance to get you out of my hair for a few hours."

"I'd hate to think I was messing up your pretty hair, Lisbon," Patrick piped up.

"Shut up!" she snapped. "You want him Agent Stern, then go ahead and take him, but when he gets into a fight or gets himself arrested or tries to set you up with a complete stranger don't call me to come and bail him out."

"Aw come on Lisbon," he whined. "I'm not that bad."

Lisbon turned her gaze on Laura, who shrank back a little. Suddenly all those stories she'd heard made a lot more sense. You didn't have to be tall with a glare like that.

"Wait and see," Lisbon said.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," said Laura. "It was nice to meet you Agent Lisbon."

The other woman nodded, and Laura took her leave. She hadn't gone more than three steps when she heard the bickering resume behind her.

Just what was going on between those two?

* * *

The moment Laura was out of earshot, Jane turned to Lisbon questioningly.

"All right, out with it. What's your problem with Laura?"

"What problem? Who says I have a problem?"

"Why do you insist on lying to me Lisbon? Not only is it pointless, it's kind of insulting."

"What did you expect, that I was going to start braiding friendship bracelets and inviting her to girls nights out?"

"No, but you didn't need to unleash your 'boss from hell' glare on her. I know you use it on me all the time but I've known you long enough to start building up a tolerance to it. You blindsided the poor girl."

"She'll get over it."

"Maybe after a couple of months of intensive psychotherapy. So come on, talk to me, what's the problem?"

"There's no problem Jane!" said Lisbon. "You must be imagining things."

She really didn't want to have this conversation with him, not now, and preferably not ever. For how was she going to explain her bad mood was due to the sick feeling she got in her stomach whenever she saw them together? Or how it actually, physically, hurt to see him flashing the smile at that woman that she had always thought he reserved especially for her? Or how whenever the two of them disappeared somewhere together, she would find herself glancing at the clock far more than usual, until he came back again?

His voice broke into her thoughts again.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous, my dear."

"Jealous? Me? Over you? I don't think so."

It was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.

She was not jealous. Concerned for him, irritated by his behaviour perhaps, inconvenienced by his constant disappearing acts but NOT jealous.

He smirked at her. "Methinks my lady does protest too much."

"Why should I care?" asked Lisbon, a little less casually than she would have liked. "What you do with her on your own time isn't my business, even though I'll remind you of the CBI guidelines regarding employee relationships."

"Ah, but you see as a lowly consultant, I'm exempt from those rules. I can date whomever I like. And furthermore, do you really think some stupid rule is going to stop me?"

* * *

Just after six that night, Laura arrived back in Serious Crimes to meet Patrick.

Loath as she was to admit it, the meeting with Lisbon today had unsettled her. As smitten as she was with the blonde consultant, she could not fail to notice the adoring look in his eyes that had appeared the instant his boss had joined them.

Patrick had never looked at _her_ that way.

The bullpen was dark, except for the soft glow of a lamp in an office and if she listened, she could hear quiet voices coming from inside. If she squinted she could just make out the name on the door. "Teresa Lisbon. Senior Agent."

She might have known.

When she got to the door, she saw Lisbon at her desk, tapping away at her computer and Patrick lying on the couch with his eyes closed. They looked totally comfortable in each other's presence, so much so that she almost felt guilty about interrupting them.

Almost.

She knocked gently on the door and both their heads snapped towards her.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him. "Ready to go?"

It seemed to take him a second to realize what she was talking about, but he shook the confusion off quickly.

"Sure," he said, getting up. "Hey Lisbon, why don't you come too?"

Laura had to work hard to keep the smile on her face. Didn't the two of them see enough of each other at work? Was it too much to ask to have her boyfriend to herself for a little while?

To her great relief, the other woman immediately shook her head.

"I'm swamped here," she said. "I'll pass."

"You don't have to stay the whole time," wheedled Patrick. "Just for one drink. You're exhausted, you need a break."

"I'm fine."

"Come on, if you sit in front of that computer any longer you're going to go blind."

"I said, I'm fine!" she burst out, so loudly that Laura jumped. "For Christ's sake Jane, I'm capable of taking care of myself!"

"Okay," he backed off. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He slipped his arm around Laura's shoulders and the two of them walked out together, but she saw him glance back over his shoulder several times at the lamplit office, until they got in the elevator and it disappeared from view.

* * *

It took all of Lisbon's self control to hold back the tears as they left. What on earth had made Jane think she'd want come along and play third wheel on their date? She already felt inadequate enough.

She couldn't deny it to herself any longer. She was jealous. She was in love with him, probably had been the since the moment they'd met and it had taken the threat of somebody else stealing him away from her to make her wake up and realize it.

She hated herself for it, but she knew that it was true. Revenge-obsessed, borderline sociopathic, pain-in-the-ass Jane was exactly the kind of person she'd always known she should steer clear of, and yet she had done the opposite, and fallen for him.

And now he had Laura. She'd missed her shot, if she'd ever actually had one and now she was doomed to putting on a brave face while he paraded around the office with his bottle-blonde, ten-years-younger squeeze.

It wasn't fair.

The paperwork on her desk offered her small comfort but she enthusiastically dove in, if only to rid her mind of the grim thoughts.

It was like the song said, love was a battlefield. But the problem was the only person who seemed to be getting hurt was herself.

* * *

Laura sipped her cocktail slowly, while racking her brains for a topic of conversation. Patrick was unusually quiet tonight; he'd barely said two words since they'd left the CBI.

"Are you OK?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah. Just thinking about-"

"Lisbon," Laura finished for him. "You heard what she said, she had paperwork to finish, that's all."

"She works too hard," he grumbled. "If she keeps pushing herself like this she's going to have a nervous breakdown by the time she's forty."

"Well that's not your concern is it?" said Laura bracingly, patting his hand.

He snatched his hand back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean she's a big girl, she can make her own decisions. It's not your job to worry about her."

"She's got no close family, no boyfriend, hardly any life at all outside the walls of the CBI. If I don't worry about her, nobody else will."

Laura sighed.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Up until today, I didn't realize there were three people in our relationship. I'm just trying to get used to the idea."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?" she repeated a little loudly, so it attracted the interest of some patrons at nearby tables. "You've talked about nothing and nobody but her all day, you totally ignored me when she walked over earlier, you invited her along on our date…"

"Look," he cut across her. "I won't deny that Lisbon is a big part of my life, but we're just friends. End of story."

"Bullshit," she shot back. "I saw the way you've been looking at her all day. You're in love with her. And where does that leave me, Patrick? You can't have her, so I'm your consolation prize?"

"Laura," he said soothingly. "You're being unreasonable."

She held up a hand to silence him, feeling tears threatening to burst out of her eyes. How could it all have gone so wrong, so quickly? Only this morning, she'd been on cloud nine and now she'd been brought back to earth in the cruellest way possible.

"I'm not prepared to be in a relationship where I'm second best to someone else," she said, trying but failing to keep the tremor out of her voice. "It's either me or her, Patrick. Take your pick."

* * *

It was nearing one in the morning when Lisbon finally shut off her computer, so exhausted she was seriously considering just falling asleep on her desk and not bothering to go home at all.

Her head ached, her eyes itched and her shoulders were so tense she felt as if someone had had carved them out of marble. She jumped a mile when there was a knock at the door.

There stood Jane, leaning against the frame, smiling that smile that made her knees turn to water.

"Figured you'd still be around."

"What are you doing back here? Aren't you supposed to be on a date?"

He shrugged. "I don't think Laura and I are the right fit for one another. She needs someone a little more…focused on her needs."

"OK. Are you all right?"

"I'll admit I'm not used to being the dumpee, but I'll get over it."

"She dumped you?" Lisbon laughed. "What did you say to her?"

He came further into the room and sat down in the chair directly opposite her.

"She gave me an ultimatum," he said. "And she didn't agree with the choice I made."

"Ouch," said Lisbon, sympathetically.

"Really, I should be thanking her," he said, to Lisbon's surprise. "She opened my eyes to some things that I hadn't really acknowledged before now."

"Like what?"

"She basically accused me of being in love with you," he said, flatly.

Lisbon just about fell off her chair. Of all the things she had expected him to say that was definitely not it. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had before.

"And what did you say?" she asked, voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.

"I told her she was being ridiculous."

Lisbon felt her hopes come crashing down again. She leaned back in her seat, deflated.

"And then I stopped to think about it," Jane went on.

She looked up again.

The grin had disappeared and he looked deadly serious.

"I spend more time with you than anyone else in the world," he said. "And when we're not together I think about you all the time. I'm happy when you're happy and I'm sad when you're sad. You're number one on my speed dial. And don't think I haven't noticed how beautiful you are either."

Was this really happening? Lisbon pinched herself discreetly. It hurt.

She was awake. This was real.

"You challenge me, you engage me and you don't take any of my crap. You're smart, witty and vivacious and a lot more tender-hearted that you'd have us all believe. So I came to the conclusion that Laura was right, and that I am in fact, madly in love with you. Amazing, huh?"

As far as Lisbon was concerned, 'amazing' didn't even begin to cover it. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined he would say such things to her. This kind of thing only happened in fairytales, not real life.

And yet, here they were.

"So I guess the question now is whether or not there's feelings on your end," he enquired, looking nervous for the first time. "Or should I start composing my will for when you murder me?"

She found she couldn't speak, so instead nodded vigorously. What else could she do?

The grin broke out again. "Well, that's a relief," he smiled. "I'm not ready to die just yet, especially considering the fact that I've never even had a chance to kiss you."

He got up from the chair and walked around the desk until he was standing behind her. He pulled her chair back and managed to perch himself on the desk until he was facing her, closer than he'd ever been before.

He leaned in closer. "You're OK with this, right?" he asked.

Somehow, Lisbon found her voice. "On one condition."

He chuckled. "Of course."

"If we do this," she said, her voice firm. "We do it 100%, this just doesn't turn out to be a temporary fling that fizzles out after a week when you get bored or when the next pretty new girl comes sashaying through the door and starts batting her eyelashes at you. Either we go all in, or not at all."

"Absolutely. All in."

She smiled. "Good. Cause I'm not sharing you with anyone."

He grinned back at her. "Hey, you're mine now. No other man will be getting within a five-mile radius of you if I have anything to do with it."

And then he closed the gap between them and he kissed her. It was gentle and cautious and far too short for either of their liking, but he was determined not to press his luck too far. The woman he longed finally within his reach; he couldn't afford to mess it up now.

Even when their lips had parted, his hand which had been gently caressing her cheek, stayed where it was, unwilling to fully give up the contact so soon.

She let herself enjoy his touch for a while before a horrible thought occurred, snapping her perfect blissful moment.

"What are we going to do when Minelli finds out? Or the rest of the team?"

"I meant what I said before," he said. "No rule is going to stop me from being with you and unless he wants to fire me, Minelli's just going to have to accept that. As for the team, they'll all be thrilled. They've had a betting pool on us for a long time. Rigsby is about to come into a lot of money."

"And what about…you know?"

She didn't have to say the name for him to know exactly to whom she was referring. He paused thoughtfully.

"I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. But rest assured, as long as you're in my life you will _always_ be a priority, and I'll do everything in my power to keep from hurting you. Can you accept that?"

She nodded. She could hardly ask for anything more.

"Now, enough talking," he said a lustful gleam in his eye. "We've got a nice comfy, couch right over there, the whole building to ourselves, and hours of free time to kill. Whatever are we going to do with it?"

"I have an idea or two," she purred, seductively.

She leaned in and kissed him again, with a little more hunger and passion than the first time around, pulling away just as he tried to deepen it further.

"Oh, you little minx," he complained, his voice low and husky.

She kissed him again, this time, standing up as she did so, so he had to do the same in order to keep kissing her. This time when she pulled away, he growled in frustration and instead focused on kissing her neck, making her moan in protest when he stopped.

He chuckled again. "See I can be a tease too if I have to be. You want more where that came from, you're just going to have to follow me over here my little wildcat."

He grabbed her by the hand, and dragged her, giggling, over to the couch. They collapsed onto it, where he rewarded her co-operation by the resumption of kisses on her neck, and then when he tired of that, kissed his way back to her lips.

The sun had risen over Sacramento before either of them bothered to speak anymore.

* * *

**Fluff is fun! Sorry if anyone was OOC. Hope you enjoyed it!**


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